PENTICTON — Fifteen days after the writ dropped, the horse race is tightening, the debate stage is set, and healthcare remains a key battleground issue.
The only televised leaders' debate is Wednesday, October 14, from 6:15 to 8 p.m. PDT. Advance voting opens October 16 and runs through October 21. The broadcast falls two days before the first advance poll.
Update — 9:19 a.m. PDT
Coquitlam at 9:30 a.m., Vancouver at 10:00 a.m.
David Eby posted on X at 9:17 a.m. PDT that he would be in Coquitlam at 9:30 a.m. PT. He framed the appearance around getting people care sooner and laid out what he called the choice facing voters.
The post noted that waiting for a scan or surgery can mean living in pain and worrying while waiting for a call.
Meanwhile, Lorne Doerkson is scheduled to speak in Vancouver at 10:00 a.m. PDT. The expected topic is public safety.
On September 22, after Eby called the election, Doerkson held his first campaign presser at Crab Park, on the Downtown Eastside waterfront.
Incidentally, several hours later Vancouver police were called to Crab Park shortly before 7 a.m. on September 23, on reports of a man in medical distress. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Vancouver Police Department called it a homicide, the city's sixth of the year.
Another poll has Conservatives pulling into the lead
Mainstreet Research’s latest British Columbia survey, an IVR phone poll of 827 adults fielded September 30 and October 1, shows the BC Conservatives pulling into the lead.
The X account TrendingPolitics.ca posted at 7:06 a.m. PDT that Lorne Doerkson's Conservatives lead David Eby's NDP by eight points in the latest Mainstreet Research poll.
Among all respondents, Lorne Doerkson and the Conservatives sit at 38.9%, with David Eby and the NDP trailing at 33.4%. Emily Lowan and the Greens are at 8.4%. OneBC and Dallas Brodie sit at 5.2%, while CentreBC and Elenore Sturko trail at 1.0%. Undecided voters account for 13.1%.
When undecided leaners are factored in, the Conservative lead stretches to seven points ‚ just under eight points, technically speaking.
The Conservatives jump to 42.5% against the NDP’s 35.4%, with the Greens at 10.6%, OneBC at 5.5%, and CentreBC at 1.1%.
Removing undecideds entirely leaves a weighted decided sample of 787, printing the Conservatives at 44.7% and the NDP at 37.2%.
On the question about the snap election, 13.4% strongly approve and 16.0% somewhat approve, for 29.4% approval. Meanwhile, 46.0% strongly disapprove and 13.3% somewhat disapprove, for 59.3% disapproval. Another 11.2% don’t know.
Broadcast debate stage locked for October 14
CBC and Global News confirmed Tuesday morning that the campaign’s only live, televised, and streamed leaders’ debate is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14, running from 6:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. PDT.
Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, returns as moderator after hosting the October 2024 provincial leaders' debate. The invited participants are NDP Leader David Eby, interim Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson, and Green Leader Emily Lowan.
The BC Broadcast Consortium — a private coalition of major news organizations — produces and distributes the shared broadcast.
Elections BC plays no role in selecting moderators, setting invitation criteria, or staging the debate, as British Columbia lacks a statutory debates commission. Consortium members for this broadcast include Global BC, CBC, CTV, CityTV, and CHEK.
Neither CentreBC nor OneBC appears on the invitation list.
CentreBC Leader Elenore Sturko holds a legislative seat, and the party filed 35 candidates. OneBC interim Leader Dallas Brodie also holds a seat, with 33 candidates filed. Green Leader Emily Lowan does not hold a seat, though the Greens filed 73 candidates. Neither network provided an official explanation for excluding the two newer parties.
A separate candidate forum is also planned. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade invited members to a luncheon panel featuring Eby, Doerkson, and Lowan at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Vancouver (11:30 a.m. registration, 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. program). The business luncheon is distinct from the October 14 broadcast event.
Lorne at the hospital, Eby at the curling rink
Monday saw the two main party leaders present contrasting health-care pitches from very different venues. Doerkson staged a morning announcement outside the emergency entrance of the South Cariboo Health Centre in 100 Mile House.
He pledged a 50-million-dollar emergency fund to manage rural ER closures and promised a 100-day expert health professional panel to recommend systemic reforms. Doerkson stated a Conservative government would cap health spending at current-year levels while prioritizing full health funding in every budget.
He cited 323,000 British Columbians actively searching for a family doctor, a specific metric distinct from the province-wide 1.2 million unattached figure used in broader party documents.
Meanwhile, Eby campaigned from the Victoria Curling Club, rolling out a seniors and home-care platform.
He promised 500 new home-care workers, free essential home care, free shingles vaccines for adults over 50, and a 90-million-dollar redevelopment project for the former Oak Bay Lodge site.
During the announcement, Eby claimed the Conservatives have admitted health care would take the brunt of their cuts.
Sturko denies she begged
Elenore Sturko posted a 77-second ad Sunday at 7:07 p.m. PDT. "The BC Conservatives want you to think they've changed. They haven't. Same people, same party, and it's all on the public record," she wrote. She called the other choice Conservative chaos and NDP incompetence, and pointed viewers to CentreBC.
Katy Merrifield, the Conservative campaign director, quote-posted it eight minutes later.
She wrote that Sturko reached out multiple times asking to come back when the writ was called. "I have receipts. She was offered a spot, rejected it, regretted it, then begged for a deal. An unfortunate pattern." She closed with "choose opportunity over opportunism."
Sturko spoke with Western Standard and denied the allegation.
She confirmed she was invited back into the Conservative caucus and refused. The reason she gave was ideological differences with roughly a dozen caucus members, including Brent Chapman.
Chapman, the Surrey South MLA who said September 22 he was joining OneBC, is not on the final ballot. OneBC said Sunday the decision that he would not run was mutual.
Seven of the eight MLAs who had joined CentreBC walked back that day. Sturko stayed.
She later told the Vancouver Sun the break was not only about Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and that the party had been in "a slow spiral into the far right."
